Every been tempted to cutesy up your powder room by replacing all your bathroom accessories with a matching set featuring, oh, a fancy hat and feathered pumps?

Or flowers or little pink poodles? When I moved into my house, the sickly yellow bathroom walls were painted with badly-stenciled ivy, and the combo was supposed to match the white and lilac tiles (including accent tiles with sad little groupings of flowers). The only reason I can think of for stenciling in ivy was to try to make the bathroom a little more cute.

We’ve done what we can to tone down the cute by painting the walls white and pairing the purple with a soft green, keeping our bathroom accessories subdued, and avoiding signs that advertising things like “We aim to please. You aim, too, please.” Seriously, what is up with those?

Looking to refresh your bathroom or hate the bathroom you inherited when you bought your house? You’re better off skipping the cutesy accessories that are going to grate on your nerves in six months or a year and saving your pennies and springing for a gallon of paint, some new towels, and a pretty mirror. Maybe a pedestal sink if you’re otherwise set where bathroom storage is concerned.

Trust me — think long-term when you’re updating a room and you’ll save money in the long run.

Your home can be a little bit country without animal heads on the walls, lots of dark exposed wood, or being a little bit rock and roll. Just like you can be mod without plastic chairs or inflatable furniture. Not that there’s anything wrong with going a really rustic route.

Check these country interiors out for down home inspiration without the gun rack:

A recipe for rustic: take one piece distressed furniture and combine with old world landscapes, vintage art pieces, and crisp white furniture. (via)

When The Beard and I were house shopping, we toured one house whose previous owners decided to swap a bathroom and a bedroom. What they ended up with what a fairly small bedroom — appropriate for use as a nursery, tiny home office, or perhaps a walk-in closet — and a gigantic, wholly cavernous feeling bathroom. While in the past I might have thought “Bathrooms, the bigger, the better,” that strange house cured me of the very idea.

Which brings me to this bathroom, outfitted with fixtures from Hansgrohe‘s Axor Urquiola range designed by Patricia Urquiloa. I adore the colors and the glass and the overwhelming indoor pool spa aesthetic. All the little stools and tables are darling. The whole thing says aquatic and means it. But while the double tubs are… interesting, truth be told, with a tub that big I’d much prefer to invite The Beard in with me. And as for the space itself? It’s just way too big for my particular tastes. Huge bathrooms over a certain size just feel wrong to me.

These custom-made tiles from the UK are crafted from Italian ceramics and are suitable for indoor or outdoor use, meaning you can tile just about anything with them. I have to say I do prefer the actual Tetris piece shaped tiles — with the Tetris pieces, you could base your layout on random choices, making decorating very much like actually playing a game of Tetris — rather than the Tetris mosaic, but that’s only because the mosaics don’t immediately look like Tetris pieces to me. Maybe, however, that would be a selling point for some who would prefer a subtler video gaming reference in their personal space.

If you’re anything like me, you’re lusting after these pretty hardcore and wondering just how much they cost. Prices are based on the size of your order and possibly your color choices — Tetris Tiles can be matched to most Pantone-colour references — so I have no idea whatsoever.

The plum tree design of silver branches and vivid flowers represents spring in Toto’s Miyabi collection. The LA Times also mentions that plum tree blooms were often used in Japanese poem manuscripts. What this has to do with going to the bathroom, I don’t know.

Wait, you thought I meant it like that? Moi? Nooooo. I’m talking about stress relief… the kind of stress relief that comes from surrounding yourself with somewhat overpriced bits of nature. Specifically in the bathroom, where thoughtful designers have thought up sorts of cheeky ways to make river rocks into visual stress-soothers.

Elements of nature unite to create this clean-lined multi-purpose hook perfect for towels, robes, or clothing. Carefully selected from rivers and beaches of New England and gently rounded through years of tumbling, each stone is unique. And we particularly love that for every smooth stone collected, a rough stone is “planted” for the water to tumble into smoothness.

New England? I live in New England! I think I’m sensing an upcoming DIY project…

Now that the whole black Friday and cyber Monday craziness has come and gone, it’s time for the slightly less serious shoppers — or should I say less zealous shoppers — to begin looking for their holiday loot.

Here are six suggestions, all of which cost less than $30 and can be purchased easily on Amazon, ensuring that no one is trampled and everyone is satisfied.

Prettify Your Place

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Manolo the Shoeblogger is not Mr. Manolo Blahnik. This website is not affiliated in any way with Mr. Manolo Blahnik, any products bearing the federally registered trademarks MANOLO®, BLAHNIK® or MANOLO BLAHNIK®, or any licensee of said federally registered trademarks. The views expressed on this website are solely those of the author.